Weather sealing strip



July 8, 1952 J. H. oRR

WEATHER SEALING STRIP Filed Nov. 23, 1949 l z z z z I z I 1 z u wPatented July 8, 1952 *UNITED sTA'rE WEATHER SEALING s'rRIP ohn HewittOrr, Coventry, Englandjassignor ,to v Carbodies Limited, Coventry,England Application November 23, 1949;'Serial`N`o. 128,999

In Great Britain April 9', 1949 The'invention relates to a Weathersealing strip,

for example, for sealing a gap round a door of an automobile. i

The main object of the inventionT isv to provide such a strip which isnot only simple and inexpen- .sivez to produ'ce, but which can be usedelfectively in a variety of positions and be secured in position inalternative ways.

A further object is to provide a weather sealing strip which includes aresiliently-deformablev strip of an appropriate cross-section' foreffecting the seal', anda ductile strip having one longitudinalVmarginal portion engaged with the resilientlydeformable strip inparallel relationship, and having the other longitudinal marginalportion provided with spaced, parallel fingerswhich are integraltherewith, the fingers serving. for' lo-l cating the ductile strip withrespect to'one of ther members between which a gap is to be sealed.

APreferably the resiliently-deformable strip and the ductile strip areprovided with inter-engaging flanges for effecting their engagement,these' fianges being'hook-like in cross-section. The said fianges of theductile strip can be formed as' a plurality of spaced, parallel fingers,and,, in that case, those fingers canv be staggered with respect to theAfingerson the other margin whereby to facilitate the bending. of theductile strip in its' own plane (e. bg., Vfor 'facilitating curving' theweather'sealing strip to conform to a curved gap between a door and itssurround) .i

For a better understanding of these and other objects' and advantages ofthe invention, atten-v Fig'ure v6 is V-a-'perspective view of a fragmentofV a sheet metal' structure showing how the latter can be made tofacilitate spot welding of the parts together and, at the same time, beadapted for receiving a weather sealing strip according to theinvention.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the resilientlydeformable strip lO issomewhat of S-section, and, centrally thereof, it has a slit in which acontinuous edge ll of the ductile strip is hooked Integral with the edgeis a plurality of fingers 4 clainis; (C1. 20-69) |2' for effecting an.engagement withv a part-towhich the weather' sealing strip' is to beassem'bled.

In the example shown, the weather sealingstrip is; to be applied to'aflange |3 of a. doorway, the door when closed ,abutting the hollowVVbeadl portionl M, of the seal with the' edge of the. door'lyinglparallel with the surface l' of the doorway; Integral` with or rigidlysecured to thev flange [3 is a plate lt` (constituting, in the--presentinstance, a part of the inner'wall of' the auto-;

mobile body), and this plate can be provided with,

anv aligned series of openings l'l" over the -adjacent edges of whichthe fingers canl be' bent as shown in Figure 2. Two of suchbent fingers:are.

indicated'at' 12a. It will be seen thattheflip 30-, of theresiliently-deformable` strip, is firmly gripped between the edge H ofthe ductile strip: and the flange |3. If part of the doorway is con-.'.

cavelycurved the. edge i of the ductile strip can be bent inits ownplane to enable the seal-A to be applied thereto. Q 'I To obscure thefingers an ornamental or other strip- |'8`can be applied, in anysuitable manner, .to=V

the plate IG, and, whenthus assembl edf,. the

weather sealing strip. is prevented from becom ing disengaged not onlyin the plane of the sheet IG by the fingers, but also in a planeatrightangles to the plate IB by the` strip. |8.

Thev resiliently-deformable;strip can have an additional slot withinwhich is resiliently-l gripped one edge of adecorative covering material|9'v` (e. g., a fabric. which matches the upholstery of the: interior ofthe motor car), the oppositeedge i of the covering, material beingtrapped resiliently beneath a lip- 20 of the resiliently-deformablestrip. Obviously, however, the covering material could be additionallysecurecl in position, as by an.` adhesive, and the strip |8 can be:extended slightly laterally.. as shown, so as to just lie. be-` neaththe-lip 20. o

Although the fingers have been shown bent;l

downwardly to engage over an edge offianropenf ing. Il, they couldobviously be bent upwardl-y to engage over an` edge of a hole in. aplatev above,

or they could be inserted between two spaced e plates defining,v anangle and secured thereto in any desirable manner (e. g., by bendinground the angle). If, however, the'strip is to be applied to a plainsurface the fingers could be secured thereto as by spot welding (if thesurface is of metal) or by nails, passed through or between the fingers,if the surface is of Vwood.

Where it is desired to hold two resilientlydeformable strips side byside, or to effect a double connection with twin slits of a singleresilengaging in the slit of the resiliently-deformable strip is in theform of fingers Hc, the fingers llc and the fingers |2 being united, instaggered relationship, by a continuous portion 2|.\

The ductile strip thus formed permits the weather sealing strip as awhole to be bent more easily in the plane of the portion 2| so as toconform to a concavely curved doorway.

Figure 5 shows a `lVariant of the construction of Figure 4, the ductilestrip being formed of Wire and bent to the form shown so as to provideattachment fingers l2c and fingers lld for engaging with theresiliently-deformable strip;

Figure 6 vshows a portion of a plate 22 having a fiange l23 to besecured to a plate 24 which has a lrolled edge 25 to which the weathersealing strip of the invention is to be applied by engaging'the fingers|2 over the edge 26. In this case the latter can bevgapped as shown at21 'to enable the plates 22 and 24 to be spot-welded, as

It will readily be seen that the series of fingers |2 enableth'e'weather sealing strip of. the in- Vention to be applied in avariety of,V ways to members requiring to be sealed, and that thefingers enable advantage to be taken of flanges, holes, etc., of thesaid members for the purpose.

Although in the examples described above the weather sealingstrip is forconnection to a doorway it could obviously be applied to an edge of adoor or used in other ways. VAlso it should be understood that the formof the resiliently-deformable strip, except in so far as its connectionto'the ductile strip is conoerned', forms no part of the presentinvention.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent oftheUnited States is: l1. A weather' sealing strip, for sealing a gapbetween a movable member and a coacting stationary'member, comprising astrip of resilient material, and a ductile strip of generally J-shapeserving for the attachment' of the sealing 'strip to one of the saidmembers, and vthe sealing' strip providing a continuous strip-portion,to be compressed between the said members when the ymovable member is inthe closed position.

2. A weather sealing strip, for sealing a gap between a movable memberand a stationary coacting member, comprising a strip of resilientmaterial, and a ductile strip of generally J-shape in end elevation andhaving a -shorter flange 'and a longer fiange, the shorter fiange of theductile strip, which need not be a continuous fiange, being entirelyembedded in the resilient strip and the longer' ange having a portionextending outwardly from said resilient strip and the extended portionbeing formed as a plurality of parallel integrally joined fingers whichserve for the attachment of the sealing strip to one of said members,the resilient strip being shaped to also extend round the bentintermediate portion of the ductile'strip and to cover parts of thelonger fiange, and providingnon the other other side ofV the embeddedfiange, a continuous hollow strip portion to be pressed between the saidmembers when the movable member is in the closed position.

3. A weather sealing strip for sealing a gap between a movable memberand a coacting stationary structure having a plate provided with aseries of openings, comprising a strip of resilient material, and aductestrip of substantially J- shape in end elevation, one fiange of theductile strip being embedded inV the resilient strip and the otherfiange comprising a plurality of fingers joined at their inner ends tosaid one fiange, the outer free end portions of the fingers being hookshaped and being received by the openings insaid plate so that theadjacent edges of the plate openings are received by the hooks on saidfingers to anchor the ductile strip and the resilient strip firmly inplace.

4. A weather sealing strip for sealing a gap between a movable memberand a coacting stationary doorway having a flange, comprising aresilient strip having a longitudinally extending recess-therein and alongitudinally extending slit parallel to and spaced from said recess toprovide a lip between said recess and said slit, a portion of thedoorway flange being received by said recess and engaging the wall ofthe recess adja- `cent said lip, a ductile strip having one fiangeattached to' the doorway and having a portion Vreceived by Vsaidrecessand overlying the doorway flange and having a'second flangereceived' by said slit so that said lip is pinched against the undersideof the doorway fiange, and a strip secured to the doorway and inengagement with the said one fiange of the ductile strip to restrain-theductile strip against movement at substantially right angles to theplane of the door- VJELY.

- OHN HEWIT'I' ORR.

REFERENCES O ITED v'nie ofithis patent: I o

UNITED STATES PATENTSV Number' o Name; e Date- 2,169,503 Schlegel V Aug.15l 1939 '2,554,452 Bright May 22, 1951

